Sustainable food production system is a chain that consists of all the processes and infrastructure to satisfy a population's food security in a sustainable way. To clarify that explanation, it is all about gathering, growing, harvesting, storing, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption of food and disposal of food waste. This also includes food security outcomes of these activities, which relates to availability and utilization. [1][2]
Researchers think that sustainable food production systems works as a supply chain. That means that every component in the food production system is depended of one another. Research in this area often researches how the supply chain works, but lacks of information about how the different members interact. The research should be more focused on what makes the supply chain sustainable and what are the efforts from the company to sustain that.[3] When measuring a sustainable food production system you use three different indicators: use of energy (both fossil and renewable sources), land and water. [4]
Challenges in sustainable food production systems
The human population is growing rapidly and at the same time the resources are decreasing. People on earth needs to find ways to produce food in a sustainable way. Therefore, the United Nation (UN) has started a group called Conversation Agriculture (CA). The UN organization behind the CA is Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO's task is to achieve food security, by making sure that everybody has access to high quality food. The FAO has putted up three main goals: the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.[5][6] . As the population gets bigger and resources decreases, there is a need for more land to grow food on. At the same time the techniques used today isn't sustainable enough to keep up with our consuming behavior. The affects of global warming puts even more pressure on resources that people are depended on. The land that is used for farming at the moment is decreasing in quality. Scientist says that people should expand their farming land, but the land may have worse quality than what they use at the moment. This is why people on earth needs to put a lot of effort into building sustainable food production systems for them to survive. The video below explains this phenomenon.[7]
Connection to SDG's
Sustainable food production systems is all about getting food to everyone sustainably. This is direct linked to SDG goal 2 No Hunger. The sustainable food production system tries to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
The dependency and need of securing our resources on the planet, the sustainable food production system is strongly conntected to SDG 15 Life on Land, which makes the connection clear.
Corporate praxis
Kesko Group is one of two big food retailers in Finland. They have a big impact on what is sold to their customers from their stores. That is why they put a lot of emphasis in their sustainable products. Their latest contribute to the sustainable food production system is the deal of being committed to sell responsible produced soy in their stores. In 2016 Kesko became a member of the RTRS (Round Table of Responsible Soy). The RTRS certificate can also be called the ProTerra certificate. That agreement says that the soy that you are selling in your stores must be sustainably produced. Kesko Group is also the founding partner of a similar organization in Finland called the Finnish soy commitment group, which was founded in February 2016. This group was founded for the same reason as the RTRS. The three things that you have to compare your production with, considering sustainable production, are the economical, social and environmental issues. There are certain criteria that has to be fulfilled to make the product sustainably produced. The RTRS agreement states that all the products that consists of soy in Kesko Groups supermarkets, the soy in that product has to be produced in a sustainable way by 2020.[8]
Critics
In todays world where the population is growing rapidly pressure is building up on sustainable food production systems. According to research the global food demand with increase with double in the next 50 years. At the moment agriculture is using 50 present of the accessible land. The problem is not how much land that is in use, but how it is used and the consequences for that. Everybody shall contribute and there should be more regulations for food production systems. The thought of a sustainable food production systems is right, but the reality is far from optimal. [9]
Examples from Finland
In Finland there are two major actors in the food retailer business: the Kesko Group and S-Group. They have approximately 85 % of the market and have a big responsibility to contribute for sustainable food production systems. The S-Group e.g. has a list of their 100 responsible acts, where they tell what they are doing to support a sustainable future. [10]
Innovations
At the moment in Sweden there is a organization called EAT Foundation that is trying to solve and establish collaboration across different scientific disciplines about food issues. They like to improve nutrition, food safety and tackle environmental and global health issues. The video below is from an Eat Food Forum where Louise O. Fresco is talking about food production systems innovation. [11]
^ Porter, John Roy; Xie, Liyong; Challinor, Andrew J. ; Cochrane, Kevern; Howden, S. Mark ; Iqbal, Muhammed Mohsin; Lobell, David B.; Travasso, Maria Isabel (2014). Food security and food production systems, Climate change 2014. Ch. 7
^ Pothukuchi K. & Kaufman J.L (1999). Placing the food system on the urban agenda: The role of municipal institutions in food systems planning, Agriculture and Human Values. vol. 16, pp. 213-224
P. R. Hobbs (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production?, Journal of Agricultural Science, 145, 127-137
^ Gerbens-Leenes P.W.,Moll H.C., Schoot Uiterkamp A.J.M. (2003). Design and development of a measuring method for environmental sustainability in food production systems, Ecological Economics, 46,pp. 231-248
P. R. Hobbs (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production?, Journal of Agricultural Science, 145, 127-137
P. R. Hobbs (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production?, Journal of Agricultural Science, 145, 127-137
Sustainable food production systems
Definition
Sustainable food production system is a chain that consists of all the processes and infrastructure to satisfy a population's food security in a sustainable way. To clarify that explanation, it is all about gathering, growing, harvesting, storing, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption of food and disposal of food waste. This also includes food security outcomes of these activities, which relates to availability and utilization. [1] [2]
Researchers think that sustainable food production systems works as a supply chain. That means that every component in the food production system is depended of one another. Research in this area often researches how the supply chain works, but lacks of information about how the different members interact. The research should be more focused on what makes the supply chain sustainable and what are the efforts from the company to sustain that.[3] When measuring a sustainable food production system you use three different indicators: use of energy (both fossil and renewable sources), land and water. [4]
Challenges in sustainable food production systems
The human population is growing rapidly and at the same time the resources are decreasing. People on earth needs to find ways to produce food in a sustainable way. Therefore, the United Nation (UN) has started a group called Conversation Agriculture (CA). The UN organization behind the CA is Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO's task is to achieve food security, by making sure that everybody has access to high quality food. The FAO has putted up three main goals: the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.[5] [6] .As the population gets bigger and resources decreases, there is a need for more land to grow food on. At the same time the techniques used today isn't sustainable enough to keep up with our consuming behavior. The affects of global warming puts even more pressure on resources that people are depended on. The land that is used for farming at the moment is decreasing in quality. Scientist says that people should expand their farming land, but the land may have worse quality than what they use at the moment. This is why people on earth needs to put a lot of effort into building sustainable food production systems for them to survive. The video below explains this phenomenon. [7]
Connection to SDG's
Sustainable food production systems is all about getting food to everyone sustainably. This is direct linked to SDG goal 2 No Hunger. The sustainable food production system tries to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.The main target of SDG goal 12 Sustainable consumtion and production is to ensure sustainable consumtion and production patterns, which is the same aim as for sustainable food production systems.
The dependency and need of securing our resources on the planet, the sustainable food production system is strongly conntected to SDG 15 Life on Land, which makes the connection clear.
Corporate praxis
Kesko Group is one of two big food retailers in Finland. They have a big impact on what is sold to their customers from their stores. That is why they put a lot of emphasis in their sustainable products. Their latest contribute to the sustainable food production system is the deal of being committed to sell responsible produced soy in their stores. In 2016 Kesko became a member of the RTRS (Round Table of Responsible Soy). The RTRS certificate can also be called the ProTerra certificate. That agreement says that the soy that you are selling in your stores must be sustainably produced. Kesko Group is also the founding partner of a similar organization in Finland called the Finnish soy commitment group, which was founded in February 2016. This group was founded for the same reason as the RTRS. The three things that you have to compare your production with, considering sustainable production, are the economical, social and environmental issues. There are certain criteria that has to be fulfilled to make the product sustainably produced. The RTRS agreement states that all the products that consists of soy in Kesko Groups supermarkets, the soy in that product has to be produced in a sustainable way by 2020.[8]Critics
In todays world where the population is growing rapidly pressure is building up on sustainable food production systems. According to research the global food demand with increase with double in the next 50 years. At the moment agriculture is using 50 present of the accessible land. The problem is not how much land that is in use, but how it is used and the consequences for that. Everybody shall contribute and there should be more regulations for food production systems. The thought of a sustainable food production systems is right, but the reality is far from optimal. [9]Examples from Finland
In Finland there are two major actors in the food retailer business: the Kesko Group and S-Group. They have approximately 85 % of the market and have a big responsibility to contribute for sustainable food production systems. The S-Group e.g. has a list of their 100 responsible acts, where they tell what they are doing to support a sustainable future. [10]Innovations
At the moment in Sweden there is a organization called EAT Foundation that is trying to solve and establish collaboration across different scientific disciplines about food issues. They like to improve nutrition, food safety and tackle environmental and global health issues. The video below is from an Eat Food Forum where Louise O. Fresco is talking about food production systems innovation. [11]Open sources
Herrero M., Thornton P.K., Notenbaert A.M., Wood S., Msangi S., Freeman H.A., Bossio D., Dixon J., Peters M., Van De Steeg J., Lynam J., Parthasarathy Rao P., Macmillan S., Gerard B., McDermott J., Seré C., Rosegrant M. (2010). Smart Investmensts in Sustainable Food Production: Revisiting Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems, Science 12, pp. 822-825
Baroni L., Censi L., Tettamanti M., Berati M. (2007). Evaluating the environmental impact of various dietary patterns combined with different food production systems, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 61, pp. 279-286
Godfray H.C.J., Beddington J.R., Crute I.R., Haddad L., Lawrence D., Muir J.F., Pretty J., Robinson S., Thomas S.M., Toulmin C. (2010). Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People, Science 12, Vol. 327, Issue 5967, pp. 812-818
External links
For more information visit these websites:S-Group: https://www.s-kanava.fi/web/s-ryhma/en/jasenyydet-ja-sitoumukset & https://www.s-kanava.fi/web/s-ryhma/en/periaatteet-ja-linjaukset
Eat: http://eatforum.org/
Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC): http://aciar.gov.au/AIFSC
Quiz
Quiz created by Anders Genberg with GoConqrP. R. Hobbs (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production?, Journal of Agricultural Science, 145, 127-137
United Nations, Food and AgricultureOrganization of United Nations. Available: http://www.fao.org/home/en/
P. R. Hobbs (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production?, Journal of Agricultural Science, 145, 127-137
P. R. Hobbs (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production?, Journal of Agricultural Science, 145, 127-137
Kesko Group, Responsibility. Available: http://www.kesko.fi/en/media/news-and-releases/news/2017/kesko-is-committed-to-use-responsibly-produced-soy/
D. Tillman, K.G Cassman, P.A. Matson, R. Naylor & S. Polasky (2002). Agricultural sustainablilty and intensive production practices, Nature, International weekly journal of science. Available: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6898/full/nature01014.html
S Group, 100 responsible acts. Available: https://www.s-kanava.fi/web/s-ryhma/en/100-tekoa
EAT, What is EAT. Available: http://eatforum.org/eat-initiative/what-is-eat/